Tucupita Marcano came through with a high-leverage, game-tying hit on Sunday, though it was in a losing effort against the Diamondbacks. But, with the Rangers in town, Marcano once again came through in a big spot, only this time it was enough to secure a win.
The Pirates defeated baseball's highest scoring team, 6-4, on Monday night at PNC Park, with one big swing from Marcano ending up as the difference maker.
The Pirates' offense had created a substantial amount of traffic on the bases in the first six innings, but only had one run to show for it. Then, it looked like the seventh inning was going to go by quickly as the first two Pirates were quickly retired by Rangers reliever Josh Sborz, but Bryan Reynolds kept the inning alive with a two-out single. Jack Suwinski followed with a walk, then Reynolds scored on a Carlos Santana RBI single that broke a 1-1 tie, barely beating a throw home from Adolis García in right field.
However, after Ke'Bryan Hayes loaded the bases with a walk to keep the pressure on with two outs, Marcano came to the plate with every intention to add some insurance for Luis Ortiz and the bullpen.
Marcano did more than enough. On a 2-2 count, Sborz hung a slider over the outside corner of the plate and Marcano made him pay for it in the most painful way possible:
Marcano's grand slam not only gave the Pirates a 6-1 lead, it was the first of his young career. He's just thankful that it helped the team win the game.
"Obviously, a unique moment for me and any player in the big leagues," Marcano said through interpreter Stephen Morales. "It came at the right time."
With this swing coming the very next day after delivering a game-tying two-run double in Sunday's loss to the Diamondbacks, it begs the question that this might be no accident. Marcano has talked about making mechanical adjustments to his swing, and Derek Shelton elaborated plenty on that on Sunday. He reinforced the same sentiment on Monday, crediting the work Marcano and the hitting staff has put in to try and become a more productive and consistent hitter.
"I think he’s in a better spot," Shelton said. "The hitting group has done some adjustments with him. ... He had good swings before, then he left the slider up. He took a really good pass at it. Big grand slam there."
The Rangers' most glaring weakness entering the series was their bullpen, who carried the sixth-worst bullpen ERA in baseball into the series, along with a lousy 52.9 save percentage. After the lineup wore down starter Dane Dunning over the first 5 2/3 innings, the Pirates took full advantage and pounced on that weakness. It was even more impressive that the entire sequence in the seventh inning came with two outs.
"We had nobody on, two outs," Shelton said. "Had some really good at-bats. We drew the two walks, Carlos had the big hit. I think the thing that gets lost there is the slide by Reynolds. A lot of guys slide and keep their foot up. He slid and kept his foot down. Then we’re able to get the challenge and do that. It was really encouraging that we continued to grind through at-bats regardless of the number of outs."
